Terese Garcia

Terese Garcia

Terese Garcia is a non-representational, experimental artist whose work is grounded in process, presence, and lived experience. Born in Hollywood with family roots in Los Angeles County, her practice is informed by nature, meditation, activism, and a deep engagement with the present moment. She is based on the Monterey Peninsula, where the surrounding ocean landscape plays a quiet but integral role in her work. Garcia received her BA from the University of California, Santa Barbara, and continued her studies at the Otis Parsons School of Art and Design. Her work has been exhibited in California and New York and is held in national collections. In parallel with her visual practice, Garcia is also a published poet and has long been active as an advocate, educator, and volunteer within the arts community,

In parallel with her visual practice, Garcia is also a published poet and has long been active as an advocate, educator, and volunteer within the arts community, collaborating with organizations including California State University Monterey Bay, the City of Salinas First Night Art Walk, Open Ground Studios, HOPE Services for the Disabled, and Ventana Inn Gallery.

TERESE GARCIA

EDUCATION:

1982–1986
University of California, Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA
B.A., Political Science

1988–1990
Otis Parsons School of Art and Design, Los Angeles, CA
Fine Art Department — Figure Drawing and Sculpture

2001–2003
International Institute of Medical Qi Gong, Pacific Grove, CA
Certificate, Medical Qi Gong Practitioner

SOLO EXHIBITIONS:

2004
Abstract Watercolor Paintings by Garcia, Sofanya’s Art Gallery, Big Sur, CA

2005
New Abstractions, Local Colors, Big Sur, CA

2006
A Gathering of Forms, SALUD – Whole Foods Community Center, Monterey, CA

2012
Present–Presence, Pacific Grove Art Center, Pacific Grove, CA

2013
Fluidity, Alvarado Gallery, Monterey Conference Center, Monterey, CA
Presented by the City of Monterey Arts Council

2015
Continuum, White Buffalo Gallery, Sacramento, CA

2018
Home, Paolo Mejia & Jack London Square Realty, Oakland, CA

2019
Beyond Conventions, Open Ground Studios, Seaside, CA

GROUP EXHIBITIONS:

2006
Abstract Paintings: Terese Garcia & Rima West, Miriam’s Cafe, Monterey, CA
Miniatures Exhibition, Monterey Museum of Art, CA

2007
We Are Family, Avery Gallery, Seaside City Hall, Seaside, CA
Post Card Series, Lisa Cocino Gallery, Pacific Grove, CA
Miniatures Exhibition, Monterey Museum of Art, Monterey, CA

2010
Sylvan Design Art Exhibition, Sylvan Design and Gallery, Sand City, CA
Abstract Art: Redstone and Garcia, Sweet Elena’s Cafe & Gallery, Sand City, CA

2011
Artists Exhibition, Eve Galleria, Syracuse, NY

2013
Discoveries, Gloria Delson Contemporary Arts, Los Angeles, CA

2015
Women’s History Month Art Exhibition, Sweet Elena’s Cafe & Gallery, Sand City, CA
Variations on Abstraction, Transmission Gallery, Oakland, CA
Curated by Robert Jean Ray

2016
Intersection, Radius Gallery, Santa Cruz, CA
Paintings by Terese Garcia; Sculpture by Peter Hiers
Curated by Ann Hazels

2017
Open Ground Studios Members Exhibition, Open Ground Studios, Seaside, CA

2018
Good and Mad (Pop-Up Exhibition), Open Ground Studios, Seaside, CA

2019
Miniatures Exhibition, Monterey Museum of Art, Monterey, CA

2024
Open Ground (MEG Exhibition), Sunset Center, Carmel, CA

2024
Open Ground: Artist Variety Showcase – Written & Spoken Words (MEG Exhibition),
Sunset Center, Carmel, CA

ART AFFILIATIONS:

2009–2011
Del Campo Gallery, Big Sur, CA — Artist Member

2011
Central Coast Art Association, Monterey, CA — Guest Speaker
Artist Talk on Vermont Studio Center Residency

2014–2016
San Jose Institute of Contemporary Art, San Jose, CA — Artist Member

2014–Present
Open Ground Studios, Seaside, CA — Artist Member

2022–Present
Pacific Grove Art Center, Pacific Grove, CA — Support Member

AWARDS & RESIDENCIES

2010
Artist in Residence, Vermont Studio Center, Johnson, VT

2010
Artist Grant Recipient, Vermont Studio Center, Johnson, VT

2016
Paintings featured in A Delicate Balance by Edward Albee
Van Antwerp Theatre Company, Santa Cruz, CA

CURATORIAL PROJECTS:

1995
Gateway Center Artists Exhibition, Oldemeyer Center, Seaside, CA
Curated and organized by Terese Garcia

2022
CLE Exhibition: Art & Experience, CLE Center, Monterey, CA
Curated and organized by Terese Garcia

I find joy in creating the intangible. If you ask, "what is it," "tell me about it," "what does it mean to you," I will tell you, those are your curiosities to explore & I invite you to do so. This is a sand grain of what my art is sharing.
— Terese Garcia
Artist
I find joy in creating the intangible. If you ask, "what is it," "tell me about it," "what does it mean to you," I will tell you, those are your curiosities to explore & I invite you to do so. This is a sand grain of what my art is sharing.
— Terese Garcia

Commission a Work

Collaborate with the artist to bring a
custom work to life - made to reflect
your space, and your vision.

Behind the Art

Meet Our Artist

{

Rita Matos

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Rita Matos (b. 1988) is a Portuguese-born, London-based mixed media artist whose intuitive, layered abstractions explore memory, presence, and transformation through expressive mark-making and evolving surface compositions....


{

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{

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{

Cedric VU

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Cedric Vu (b. 1996) is a French-Vietnamese contemporary visual artist born and raised in San Jose, California. From 2014 to 2023, he lived in Los Angeles, where he studied filmmaking, worked as a dancer, and held a range of production roles in film and...


{

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Christiane Corcelle is a French-American mixed media artist based in Massachusetts. Her intuitive, layered practice spans painting, printmaking, collage, and de-collage, building richly textured surfaces that invite close exploration. Guided by curiosity and...


{

Luz Marina Ruiz

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Luz Marina Ruiz is an CA-based multidisciplinary artist whose work, inspired by nature and dreams, uses layered printmaking techniques to create luminous, tactile imagery often centered on water and boats as metaphors for life’s journeys...


{

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{

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{

Michael Gustavson

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Michael Gustavson is a California-based ceramic artist who reimagines traditional raku through a highly personal firing process, creating large-scale, painterly sculptures distinguished by luminous color, expressive surfaces, and a synthesis of abstract painting and sculptural form...


{

Miriam Sweeney

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Miriam Sweeney is a San Francisco–based artist who transforms aerial city maps into textured, layered abstractions that capture the rhythm, density, and evolving structure of urban life...


{

Marc Zimmerman

Sculptor & Painter
American

Marc Zimmerman is an American painter and ceramic sculptor based in Carmel-by-the-Sea, California, recognized for exuberant, color-driven works that fuse tropical imagery, figurative elements, and stylized botanical forms. Across both canvas and clay...


{

Rebecca Koury

Mixed Media Abstract
American

Rebecca Koury is a contemporary painter and collage artist whose layered, meditative abstractions explore nature, movement, and transformation through luminous, textured surfaces informed by both painting and sculptural sensibility...


{

Flavia Cuddemi

Figurative, Landscape Watercolorist
Italian

Flavia Cuddemi is a Sicilian-born, Rome-based painter and illustrator whose delicate watercolor works explore intimacy, solitude, and belonging through tender human gestures and expansive, atmospheric landscapes....


{

Terese Garcia

Mixed Media Artist
American

Terese Garcia is a Monterey, CA–based, non-representational artist whose experimental, process-driven practice is shaped by nature, meditation, and lived experience, alongside her work as a published poet and active contributor to the California arts community...


Behind the Art

Meet Our Artist

Arrow VIEW ALL
{

Rita Matos

Abstract Painter
Portuguese

Rita Matos (b. 1988) is a Portuguese-born, London-based mixed media artist whose intuitive, layered abstractions explore memory, presence, and transformation through expressive mark-making and evolving surface compositions....

{

Javiera da Fonseca Ilić

Landscape, Abstract, Figurative
Chilean

Javiera da Fonseca Ilić (b. 1982, Santiago de Chile) is a Chilean-born, Mexico-based abstract artist whose work explores the interplay of memory, dreams, and energy through material experimentation and investigations of the connection between inner and natural worlds...

{

Kate Vorona

Abstract Figurative Painter
Moldovan

Kate Vorona (Moldovan, b. 1993) is a contemporary abstract-figurative painter whose expressive, color-driven works explore the emotional inner worlds of her figures through movement, atmosphere, and dynamic spatial tension....

{

Cedric VU

Textile Artist
French-Vietnamese

Cedric Vu (b. 1996) is a French-Vietnamese contemporary visual artist born and raised in San Jose, California. From 2014 to 2023, he lived in Los Angeles, where he studied filmmaking, worked as a dancer, and held a range of production roles in film and...

{

Christiane Corcelle

Mixed Media Artist
French-American

Christiane Corcelle is a French-American mixed media artist based in Massachusetts. Her intuitive, layered practice spans painting, printmaking, collage, and de-collage, building richly textured surfaces that invite close exploration. Guided by curiosity and...

{

Luz Marina Ruiz

Painting & Mixed Media
Colombian

Luz Marina Ruiz is an CA-based multidisciplinary artist whose work, inspired by nature and dreams, uses layered printmaking techniques to create luminous, tactile imagery often centered on water and boats as metaphors for life’s journeys...

{

Rinat Goren

Encaustic Artist
Israeli-American

Born and raised in Israel and now based in Silicon Valley, California, Rinat Goren creates abstract and figurative paintings that reflect her deep admiration for individuals who think critically and act with intention. Her work is inspired by the uniquely human...

{

Meifen Zhong

Figurative Painter
Chinese

Meifen Zhong (b. 1986, China) is a Shanghai-based painter whose refined portraits, rendered with luminous, porcelain-like surfaces and meticulous brushwork, explore quiet introspection and emotional depth...

{

Michael Gustavson

Ceramic Sculptor
American

Michael Gustavson is a California-based ceramic artist who reimagines traditional raku through a highly personal firing process, creating large-scale, painterly sculptures distinguished by luminous color, expressive surfaces, and a synthesis of abstract painting and sculptural form...

{

Miriam Sweeney

Abstract Landscape Painter
American

Miriam Sweeney is a San Francisco–based artist who transforms aerial city maps into textured, layered abstractions that capture the rhythm, density, and evolving structure of urban life...

{

Marc Zimmerman

Sculptor & Painter
American

Marc Zimmerman is an American painter and ceramic sculptor based in Carmel-by-the-Sea, California, recognized for exuberant, color-driven works that fuse tropical imagery, figurative elements, and stylized botanical forms. Across both canvas and clay...

{

Rebecca Koury

Mixed Media Abstract
American

Rebecca Koury is a contemporary painter and collage artist whose layered, meditative abstractions explore nature, movement, and transformation through luminous, textured surfaces informed by both painting and sculptural sensibility...

{

Flavia Cuddemi

Figurative, Landscape Watercolorist
Italian

Flavia Cuddemi is a Sicilian-born, Rome-based painter and illustrator whose delicate watercolor works explore intimacy, solitude, and belonging through tender human gestures and expansive, atmospheric landscapes....

{

Terese Garcia

Mixed Media Artist
American

Terese Garcia is a Monterey, CA–based, non-representational artist whose experimental, process-driven practice is shaped by nature, meditation, and lived experience, alongside her work as a published poet and active contributor to the California arts community...